Falcons president and general manager Bruce Landon met with the Booster Club prior to the game. "We have two years left on our deal with Tampa Bay," Landon said, debunking a rumor that Edmonton was planning to become Springfield's parent team next season. "I told our fans that I feel their pain." Landon also assured the fans the Falcons have not been sold and will operate next season.

As Nigel mentioned in the Greco/AHL discussion, Bill Barber and Claude Loiselle canceled their appearance with Springfield fans to watch Mike Lundin play UMass. If Maine's season is indeed finished, and considering Springfield's injuries to their defensemen (Rosehill, Rullier and now Matt Smaby), Lundin could be signed pretty quick - pending education issues, I'm sure.

Karri Ramo allowed 4 goals on 19 shots before giving way to Jonathan Boutin who fared even worse allowing 2 goals on 5 shots. Justin Keller and Norm Milley had Springfield's goals with assists belonging to Marek Kvapil, Jay Rosehill and Daniel Corso. Unfortunately, after hanging around for the first 40 minutes of the game, Springfield self destructed and allowed 4 goals in the final frame. The Falcons also had an opportunity to take a 2-0 lead early in the game on a David Spina penalty shot, but Spina failed to score and a Bruins goal in the final minutes of the first evened the game up.

Positives: with Kyle Wanvig up in Tampa on recall, Kvapil was moved back up to the second line with Keller and Spina and the three responded. Kvapil had the assist and 2 shots on goal, Spina had 4 shots and Keller had a team high 5 shots on goal. Hopefully the youngsters can keep it up. Remember, a couple of years ago Paul Ranger and Evgeny Artyukhin really came on at the end of the year (especially Ranger in the last dozen games) and it catapulted them into the NHL early the next year. Even though Springfield's playoff chances are slim and none, these young players still have a lot of developmental time left to capitalize on and once the college and junior team seasons start to end there will be an opportunity for the Lightning to identify some players to sign to ATO contracts with a view toward shaping next year's roster. There's still a lot to play for here.

Word on the street from Johnstown is that [url=andre-deveaux]Andre Deveaux[/url] and [url=jay-rosehill]Jay Rosehill[/url] were at this morning's practice for the Chiefs and thus, logically, have been sent down by the Falcons. Neither organization has released confirmation yet. The Chiefs opener is tonight at 7pm at home against Pensacola.
[b]Update:[/b]
[url=http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news&cat=1&id=8948]ECHL.com has announced[/url] that Jay Rosehill has indeed been sent down to Johnstown. Also, Ian MacLean has been placed on the 7 day IR. Still no word on Deveaux.

Erik Erlensson of the Tribune [url=http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGBGE7D5UBE.html]suggests the Lightning may move to sign some of their college prospects like Matt Smaby, Brady Greco and Jay Rosehill [/url]to build up their minor league depth at the position. Lightning GM Jay Feaster has made it known he thinks the NCAA ranks are too soft for his taste and [url=http://www.nhl.com/futures/features/prospects_tam040705.html]hinted strongly to NHL.com a Smaby signing may be in the offing.[/url] When Andreas Holmqvist's return to Linkopings in Sweden freed up a roster spot in Springfield it all but sealed the deal that the Lightning would attempt to get Smaby to go pro.